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#100daysofpractice Big change recently: intonation has improved because I changed the settings on my tuner app TE Tuner. It's now set to Pythagorean (Stretched Perfect 5ths) and I only use its A=442Hz, rather than tuning all four open strings. Now I tune the D, G and E to each other rather than to the tuner. Changing a few other TE Tuner settings as well has made a big difference. Now that my o...

#100daysofpractice Behind perspective is really helpful! It's easier to see slidy intonation, jerky shifts, inconsistent vibrato, random contact point changes, poor bow distribution choices and so on. It's getting better which is encouraging! The fast run is still eluding me, so I need to practise interleaving to keep getting on top of it!

Day 21: Working on correcting intonation problems. I am discovering that my 4th finger is often flat, but often I play sharp, my half-finger positions are too close to the resolving note / adjacent finger, my first finger half position is too close to the nut and I struggle with perfect 4th (it sounds dissonant to me). All very important discoveries!!! I am using TE Tuner set to Just Intonation...

Day 20 changelog: - Faster shifts - Tighter, full-note-duration vibrato - Intonation improved - Straighter bow - Bow distribution for graceful exposition of melody - Improved bars 13-17 I chose to work on this another day because I wanted to work on yesterday's mistakes. I think it sounds a lot better than yesterday, but I want a much richer, sweeter, purer sound. My ideal for this piece is a r...

Packing for three weeks' solo in China: one suitcase about 10kg, one laptop bag and a small crossbody bag. I'm hoping to bring home a reasonable but cheap violin, putting the laptop bag into checked luggage.

After 11 days' practice, this is what I've achieved so far with the first Arabesque by Debussy, using the Tomplay arrangement. Changelog: Improving the string crossings, bow distribution and more consistent vibrato. For the latter, I practised exercises by Susanna Klein of @practizma like taps, slides and "bounce the ball." I have lots still to improve but I feel a sense of "dolce far niente" e...

#100daysofpractice Tonight I started learning this piece. It's so beautiful. After playing through the first statement until bar 19, about 8 times or so, I recorded.

Changelog: - Changed fingering of b. 99-100 - Improving bow distribution, shifts, "feel the plane" - Increased from 72 to 90 (final goal speed: 100-120) - Thinking more about dynamics and phrasing

长相思 Missing friends a long time

I haven't practised for a week, been struggling with insomnia, and feeling super soporific. Before playing, I thought, "The one thing to focus on is a straight bow" but my new scroll angle, further to the left, for better hand-frame consistency (to help with elbow rotation) is a bit hard to get used to. 加油 ! Keep going!

Here's my first attempt to write a song in Chinese. My BMus songwriting unit MUSI221 required us students to write lyrics, create a song and then perform it themselves all the poor students who can't sing well, like me, had to embarrass themselves. This is what I came up with (20240929). Credit to Paul Franzi for the fun images.

Past midnight, when unable to sleep, what to do? Fred wanted to sit on my lap, so I decided I should practise piano.

Tom and Jerry were 3-weeks old when we saw them hiding out in the long grass in the back yard. We borrowed a cage from the vet next door, trapped them separately and kept them in the bathroom for almost two weeks to get used to living indoors. To help them get used to me, I would bounce a chirping bird on an elastic string during feeding time, to take their attention off me. Tom, the extrovert ...